Polluting companies ordered to apologize to public

Three chemical companies that polluted the soil in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, were ordered to apologize to the public on China's national media and pay for the legal and business expenses of the two NGOs that sued them, according to the Jiangsu High People's Court on Thursday.

In September 2015, about 500 students from the new campus of Changzhou Foreign Languages School in Jiangsu province fell ill. Some were diagnosed with lymphoma and leukemia. Later, it was found that the school had been built next to a site that had housed the three chemical enterprises before 2010.

In May 2016, the two NGOs - China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Fund and Friends of Nature - filed a public interest lawsuit against the Changlong, Changyu and Huada chemical companies.